


The Fluke

by Gleefullymacabre



Category: Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Camping, F/M, Love Bites, Sharing a Bed, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 11:17:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8204035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gleefullymacabre/pseuds/Gleefullymacabre
Summary: Sunny and Dawn share a sleeping bag.





	

“They’re so cute!”

Marianne looked up from arranging her sleeping bag.  At day two of their annual unscheduled road trip, they were past-due for some kind of catastrophe.  A quick look around revealed nothing on fire except the fire pit.

Being just off-season, they had the campsite to themselves, and had spread out as far as the heat of the controlled flames would reach.  Dawn had claimed her spot the minute they arrived, and currently snapped photo after photo of her sleeping bag.

Marianne stood, the evening chill cutting through her pajama bottoms and hoodie. Sticks and leaves snapped beneath her sneakers as she padded over to her sister.

A quartet of young hares had claimed Dawn’s bedding for their warren.

“I told you not to unroll your bag so early,” Marianne said without sympathy.

“Worth it,” Dawn responded. She tapped an icon on her phone and selected the best photos for upload.

“There’s no connection this far out,” Marianne reminded herm heading back to her own sleeping area.

“They’ll be online the second we find Wi-fi.” Dawn crouched back down to coo at the intruders.

Bog cut a wide berth around the adorable scene, stepped over Sunny, already tucked in for the night, and tossed handfuls of dirt over the fire to extinguish it. He emptied a bucket of water over the ashes, then dropped beside Marianne.

“They’d’ve fouled it by now,” he grumbled, inching his bedding closer to hers.

“Probably,” she agreed, dragging Bog’s arm around her waist.

He dragged the top of the double-sized bedroll over their bodies.  “Where is _she_ gonna sleep?”

On the other side of the camp, pillow in hand, Dawn prodded Sunny’s cocooned form with her foot.  “Scooch over!”

“This is as scooched as I get,” he answered, only to have a pillow dropped on his head.

 Marianne shrugged.  “I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

There was a small tussle while Dawn forced the zipper closed around two bodies when the sleeping bag was only made for one. They managed by wriggling their shoulders and arms out entirely.  A hastily arranged spare blanket protected their pillows from dirt.

“Now isn’t this cozy?” Dawn chirped, curled on her side towards Sunny.

The heat of her body seeped through his flannel pajama bottoms and thin tee shirt. His bare arms were left in the elements and the chilly night pricked at his nerve endings.  He folded his hands behind his head.  “It’s a good thing you’re scrawny.”  Dawn pressed her hands beneath his shirt, low against his sides, producing a yelp. “How are your hands so cold?” he demanded.

“Hmm, warm them for me!” Dawn pinned him with her entire upper body despite the lack of any escape routes.

“Will you two settle down?” Marianne bellowed from across the clearing.

“But it’s time for the scary stories,” Sunny shouted back.

“Raw head, bloody bones,” Dawn hissed.

While the pair dissolved into giggles, grumbles and rustles followed Marianne as she dragged her boyfriend through the trees to one of the neighboring campsites. “Where it’s quiet,” she emphasized.

Dawn’s snort sent a warm wave of air over Sunny’s neck.  “Real subtle,” she hollered after them, then nestled into Sunny’s shoulder.  Her hands grew warm against his sides.

“Mosquitoes will eat them alive. Sure you’re comfortable?” he asked.

“Yeah. My pillow’s too soft for the ground.”

Sunny stared into the starry night framed by dark treetops and enjoyed the pleasant weight of Dawn’s head on his chest.  Overgrown strands of hair caught on the day’s stubble. Her sugar-sweet scent softened the smell of pine sap and smoke from the extinguished campfire.

Movement, barely perceptible among the shadows, caught his eye. “Your friends are leaving.”

“Aw, bye-bye bunnies,” she murmured sleepily.

Sunny pulled one hand away from his pillow to place a gentle pat on her shoulder. He missed, and his hand settled on her head.

“I need a haircut,” she yawned.

Sunny hummed in response, toying with a few strands at the base of her skull.  The products and gadgets she used to manage the short length had been left behind for the trip, leaving the superfine strands free to curl and twist around his fingers.  Her breathing grew deep and steady while crickets sang quietly in the underbrush.

He turned his head to press a sleepy kiss to her hair, but stopped before his lips could do more than brush the ends.

They had napped together since naps were an adult scheme to be avoided at all costs. As years passed, naps morphed into impromptu sleepovers in front of the television and all-night study sessions.  Little changed after they received their degrees. Dawn spent as many nights at his apartment as at her dad’s house. She would never ask Sunny to hand her something if it could be reached by crawling over him.

Dawn never noticed that she initiated every hug, or that he never stayed the night at her place.  He tried not to reach out, but could not make himself push her away, which left him in an odd sort of limbo. Waiting to grow out of this decade-long crush without damaging their friendship.

Sunny turned away from temptation, staring at the sky until his eyelids grew heavy and he could drift off to sleep, his fingers still tangled in her hair.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

The sky turned orange with the first light of the sun when Dawn awoke.  She ignored the birdsongs to rub her cheek against her warm pillow, craving a few more moments of rest.  A persistent cowlick, the one that never cooperated with styling gel, tickled her nose.  She sniffed away the itch and inhaled a warm, spicy aroma at odds with the cool, crisp morning.

_Right_ , she remembered with a smile. _Bunnies._

Her hands had migrated in the night; one hiding beneath the pillow, the other further up Sunny’s shirt to rest on his chest. His arm curled around her shoulders, holding her close and toasty against the morning chill.

Dawn hid her eyes against his jaw, letting herself be soothed back into a doze by the gentle rise and fall of Sunny’s chest.  She brushed her nose against his neck, which turned into a curious nuzzle.  Aside from the small patch of hair on his chin, Sunny kept his face smooth.  Even when she fell asleep at his apartment, she only saw him after his morning grooming routine. She followed the half-awake impulse to test the texture of his stubble with her lips and found the scratch sent a pleasant shiver down her spine.  She followed the coarse hair towards his neck where skin provided a soft contrast to the prickly growth, causing warmth to curl in low in her belly.  Her mouth fell open, allowing her tongue to slide experimentally across this new territory and taste the saltiness from sleep and morning dew.  A low vibration under her lips answered the caress. Pleased, Dawn took the patch of skin between her lips to suck away the camouflaging flavor, her tongue probing for the source of the warm cinnamon smell.

_“Dawn!”_

She jerked into full awareness and blinked into confused brown eyes.  Her eyes darted to wear her head had been resting and found the angry red mark left by her tingling lips.

“Oh my god!”  Dawn untangled her hands from Sunny’s shirt and pillow and twisted over to struggle with the zipper.  “I am so sorry!  I was just…”  _Wondering if you taste as good as you smell_ , her brain provided.  Dawn bit her lip, embarrassed tears pricking her eyes.  Her boy-crazy tendencies had always been limited to boys who expressed _some_ interest.  To wake up pawing at Sunny, who barely noticed she was a girl…

“Dreaming. Of a… BLT,” she finished lamely, still tugging on the stubborn fastening.

Memories of accusations echoed in her mind. Chiding comments about being too pushy when she wrapped her arm around Todd.  Billy complained that she kissed too hard, was too aggressive. And then there was that one time she accidentally bit Jason.

“BLT. Right.”  Dawn peeked over her shoulder. The corners of Sunny’s lips curled up, bemused and without judgement.  He did not believe her, but would accept the excuse.

The zipper finally gave. Dawn clambered into the clearing, muttering apologies with burning cheeks.  Blindly, she grabbed her backpack and fled to the shower facilities, not caring if they offered hot water.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Sunny tied a black garbage bag closed around Dawn’s ruined bedroll and tossed it into the bed of his truck.  A quick look around the campsite provided no last-minute chores to occupy his hands and distract from that disastrous morning.

A BLT. Dawn never had savored a piece of bacon like that in her life.

Waking from a deep and thankfully dreamless sleep to Dawn making a very hard pass at him had shocked Sunny wide awake.  With her hand kneading his torso and her tongue lapping at his neck, he had been unable to suppress an eager groan.  She seemed to take it for consent and began to suckle just below his jaw.  He had arched his neck to give her more access and helplessly gasped her name, the combined heat of their bodies in the confined space almost unbearable.  She did not answer, just continued her lazy attentions.

“Dawn?” he had repeated.  Again, she did not respond, and nausea twisted in his gut.

_“Dawn!”_

Sunny pressed his forehead against the cool metal of his truck, the memory of her horrified blue eyes burned into his memory. The sleeping arrangements had been too close, too warm.  He could not blame her for having a steamy dream about some other guy, or of being embarrassed at acting it out on the wrong person.

Sunny banged his head against the truck a few times. He had spent so many years being careful. Staying on the right side of every boundary, not crossing any lines.  Now Dawn could not even look at him.  Selfishly, he hoped they could forget about that morning.  That Dawn could forget how obviously he had wanted it, how much he wanted her.  Things could go back to normal.

They could still be friends.

“What happened to yer neck?”

“Bug bite,” Sunny answered automatically.  He adjusted his bandana to hide any red marks left on his forehead before turning away from his truck.

Bog raised an incredulous eyebrow.

“I’m very allergic,” Sunny insisted.

Marianne arrived back from the showers, and Bog dropped the subject to squeeze into the backseat with her. Dawn, who had dawdled all morning – a successful scheme to avoid helping with cleanup, Marianne complained – trailed after her sister. Her eyes searched the tree line, then the grass, then the sky, settling on anything that was not Sunny.

Sunny climbed into the driver’s seat and made a show of adjusting the mirrors so Dawn could climb in without the weight of his pleading stare.  The side view mirror reflected the mark on his neck, the purple smudge too high to be hidden by a shirt collar, the sight sending a guilty heat through his system.

He sighed miserably and chanced a glance to his passenger.  He caught Dawn watching him with wary eyes.  Sunny licked his suddenly dry lips.  “Ready?”

_Are we okay?_

Dawn’s smile failed to brighten the morning, and her shoulders stayed stiff and her eyes dark. “Let’s go.”

Sunny forced a smile in return, willing his heart to unclench.  They would be fine, he promised himself. Nothing had to change.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Sunny stopped at the first sporting goods store they reached.

Dawn left her new sleeping bag untouched until nightfall.


End file.
